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VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani has obtained documentation of proposed modifications of the Rosso di Montalcino appellation (see below). The “hypothesis for three typologies [categories] of Rosso di Montalcino” will be discussed in an assembly to be held September 7. The categories are as follows:

Although it appears unlikely that the 15-member technical advisory committee of the Brunello producers association will call for a vote on September 7, the proposed changes will be discussed in an “ordinary assembly” of the producer members.

“The wave of heat coming from Africa that struck Italy has also arrived in Montalcino,” write the winemakers at Tenuta Il Poggione in Montalcino.

“We are having temperature highs of 37° C. (99° F.) but fortunately, after sundown, the temperatures descend and we have lows of 17-20° C. (63-68° F.). And this is good for the ripening of the grapes.”

Today on his blog Vino al Vino, VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani sadly reports that the owner of the Podere La Gerla in Montalcino, Sergio Rossi, died over the weekend. Born in Bergamo, Rossi enjoyed a successful career in advertising before buying the winery in 1976. “I had the opportunity to meet Rossi,” wrote Franco on his blog today, “and to appreciate his humanity. He was an old fashioned gentleman, [a breed] increasingly rare in Motnalcino.”

“La Gerla will continue to grow in the direction that Sergio Rossi indicated,” said the estate’s vineyard manager Alberto Passeri. “It will follow his philosophy and will continue to produce excellent, unique wine that reflect the interests and passion of the persons, like Sergio, who wrote this history of this winery.”

According to a report posted online yesterday by the University of Udine, roughly 300 hectares of Collio vineyards were “devastated” by a hailstorm that battered the area around midnight on Saturday. The affected areas represent nearly “a sixth of the total surface area planted to vine in Collio.”

“‘The hailstorm, which lasted for a good 30 minutes, struck in a leopard-spot pattern [affecting] one out of every six vineyards,’ said Luigi Soini, director at the Cantina Produttori di Cormons. ‘In some cases, as in Plessiva, Zegla, and Preval, 100% of the crop was lost. In others, 80%. In the more fortunate cases, only 10-15% of the fruit was damaged… It’s been years since a calamity of this proportion has occurred in Collio.'”

Inclement weather also “struck heavily” in Dolegna del Collio and Brazzano, according to the report. The metereological event was “one of the worst hailstorms in Friuli-Venezia Giuli in recent years.”

The prosecutors were forced to make the indictment request after a preliminary hearing judge rejected their petition for the case to be dropped four days ago.

In March President Giorgio Napolitano had expressed reservations about Romano’s appointment as agriculture minister when swearing him because the MP was among the suspects in a probe into politicians allegedly having dealings with Mafiosi in exchange for electoral support.

The investigation led to the former governor of Sicily, Salvatore Cuffaro, being imprisoned in January, when his final appeal against a seven-year term for helping the Mafia failed. ”I don’t intend to comment on an act the Palermo Prosecutor’s office was obliged to make after eight years of investigations and two requests for the case to be dropped,” Romano said Wednesday.

In the request, the prosecutors said Romano ”consciously and effectively contributed to the support and reinforcement of Mafia association in order to acquire electoral support by entertaining relations with numerous high-ranking members” of Cosa Nostra.

The prosecutors said Romano and Cuffaro had agreed to a request from a leading Mafia boss, Nino Mandala’, to have a man put on to a centrist party list for regional elections in 2001.

Romano joined the cabinet this year after being part of a group of lawmakers who have changed sides recently to support Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s government and help it survive after its majority in parliament was slashed by an internal split.

He left centrist Catholic party UDC in September and is part of the self-styled ”responsible” group of lawmakers.

Another preliminary judge will decide whether the case will go to trial.

This umpteenth batch of new DOCGs is the result of efforts by the previous directors of the [agriculture] ministry, both of whom are Veneti by birth and by electoral process. And the Regione Veneto is the primary beneficiary: it places Friularo di Bagnoli and Colli di Conegliano on the same level as Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino, Taurasi, Franciacorta, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Carmignano, Fiano d’Avellino… Observers of the world of wine can only be dismayed by this mechanism, which erases any differences, trivializes, and confers a mark of superior quality to wines that, even in the best of cases, are known solely in the zones where they are produced.

According to report posted today on his blog by VinoWire editor Franco Ziliani, legendary Langa producer Bruno Giacosa has confirmed rumors that his long-time enologist Dante Scaglione (above, left, with Bruna and Bruno Giacosa) will return to the winery and resume working with the great Nebbiolo maestro again.